1 Peter 1:21
21 who through Him are believers in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.
It is through Christ and His sacrifice for us that we are believers in God—who raised Christ from the dead and gave Him glory when He brought Him back to heaven. Hence our faith and hope are to be in God.
1 Peter 1:10-11
10 As to this salvation, the prophets who prophesied of the grace that would come to you made careful searches and inquiries, 11 seeking to know what person or time the Spirit of Christ within them was indicating as He predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories to follow.
The Old Testament Prophets prophesied of the coming Christ and of His grace, yet they had no clear understanding of it—because it was so far in their future. So, they made careful study and inquiries of their own prophetic words in order to understand the Spirit of Christ within them, speaking to them about how He would suffer and then also be glorified (look at Isaiah 52:14-15; 53:1-7; 61:1-3).
So far, in previous posts, we have seen that we have the assurance of a heavenly inheritance; and we live now in the kingdom of God, which mysteriously is in us; Christ rules and reigns in our heart. And because we are born again spiritually we have a new life in Christ.
In 2 Corinthians 5:17 Paul writes, “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.”
I would like to take some time now to break this verse down. What does it mean that we as Christians are new creatures? I think it just means that we, being born again spiritually, are a new creation of God. Or we could say that we are regenerated—which means to give new life to. Here are a few verses that may shed some light on this.
In John 3:3 Jesus said to Nicodemus, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Yes, when we are born again it is only then that we can see and understand anything of God. By our new spiritual birth, we have a new understanding and a spiritual sight.
In Ephesians 2:1-5 Paul writes that we were dead to God in our sinful nature; we lived in sin. But God made us alive together with Christ. He gave us a new life.
In Titus 3:5 it says that we were saved by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit made us New creatures.
In 1 John 2:29 and 3:9 it tells us that all who practice righteousness are born of God; and all who practice sin are not born of God. Hence those who are born again and have a new regenerated life will love to do what is right; but those who do not have this new life in Christ are more prone to sin and follow their sinful nature.
The result of having this new self is that the old things of our past life are passed away—gone, and new thing have come. Now we still sin, but sin does not dominate or control us anymore. Our new nature is more dominate. We no longer live just for ourselves; we live for eternity and to please God. And we now have a spiritual mind—the mind of Christ. Let’s take some time now to list a few more things of our old life that are passed away.
And here are some things that have become new.
Hi-C actually started in Junior High, as I have already written about. But it continued into high school. I am so thankful to God for this group, because it kept me excited about my Christian life. And one of the verses that I remember using during that time was John 10:10, “The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and have it more abundantly.” Yes, I think Hi-C for a me was all about living the abundant life in the midst of so much pain and turmoil at home, and also in the classroom—I just wasn’t a very good student.
I think God was using Hi-C, along with sports, to get me through life at that time; otherwise I think I would have been very depressed. The first thing I remember about the club was our trip to Arrowhead Springs, Colorado (pictured). I don’t remember a lot, just that it was a great motivator and I felt so much joy being around other believers. It was like experiencing a small bit of heaven.
Similarly, I remember our city-wide rallies. Hi-C wasn’t just in my high school. It was in several high schools in Minneapolis. Jerry Kaufman was a God-send for the rallies—a great motivator. Anyway, we would have city-wide rallies about once a month, and Jerry Kaufman, with his accordion, would lead them. It was mainly a time of singing Christian songs; and we also usually had a special speaker that would give a gospel presentation. Oh, we also had plenty of time to play games and be rowdy. And now that I think of it, there were also city-wide hay rides and other events.
I think I actually made more friends from other schools, through the city-wide events, then from my school at West High. And I went to great lengths to keep those relationships going. I remember having to ride the bus for very long distances, using two or three transfers to get to places. And it was worth it. I often visited my friend Gary Westlund. He became sort of a mentor to me. I remember when we would team up and go witnessing at Lake Calhoun beach. It was always me and Gary.
The Hi-C Club at West was a much smaller group. I was elected President, and we also had two secretaries and a treasurer—so I guess we were fairly organized. Anyway, we had weekly meetings where we would usually invite a speaker. I remember that one of our regular speakers was Mr. Baxter, who was a teacher and a coach at West. Everyone liked him.
Our intention in the group was not just to have fun. We set out to invite as many as we could from school to group meeting so that they would eventually find Christ. I’m not sure how many that was, but there were a few. I sometimes wonder where they all are right now. I know that many have been greatly influenced by Hi-C just as I have been. I don’t have many pictures, but I do have several writings in my year books that have mentioned Hi-C, and they usually signed off with “In Christ,” or even “Love in Christ.” Those were the days. I pray that they are still going on for the Lord as I am.
Stephen Nielsen 